1) The smaller monsters were a genius twist and were VERY creepy. It changed the whole feel of the monster movie from what I was expecting. As soon as I saw the CNN footage in the electronics store of the smaller creatures falling off the bigger one and attacking the soldiers, the whole movie changed for me...it became much more creepy. During the subway tunnel scene I looked away from the screen and everyone in the audience was bunched up in their seat.
2) Hud, the camera guy, kept the movie fun with his commentary. Good balance of action and humor. BWP had no humor element. Cloverfield kept the right balance here.
3) Explanations aren't important in these kinds of movies. Why Manhattan? Why couldn't the bombs kill it? Where was it from? Why did her head explode after being bitten?...Who the hell cares? Working in answers to these kinds of questions in the plot of a monster film is soooo cliche. It was shot from the perspective of civilians caught up in the event. If I were directing this, I may have added a epilogue or press release at the end of the film, but I wouldn't have incorporated these answers into the film.
4) The reality-based/civilian perspective on the monster movie is what makes this movie fresh. That is the novelty of this movie. To my knowledge, this hasn't been done before. The camera work, admittedly, was hard to watch (I wish they would've stabilized it more), but I think this form of narrative is extremely powerful.
If I were ranking the best monster movies of all time (a genre that, granted, is not made up of great films), I would put Cloverfield in the top 10.
I wasn't aware there was a similar "moral panic" (not sure why a health concern is a "moral" issue...) when artificial insemination was introduced. Reference?
Folks that are good at car safety would be trivially easy to hire out of one of the old, tired Big 3 auto makers.
The problem with the Detroit manufacturers is bad management and bad culture. I'd be that sharp engineers would jump at the opportunity to work at an auto company that managed innovation like they do in the valley.
I've got a new Sony sz670 and they have yet to release the XP downgrade drivers. I've got basics working (video, chipset, network, audio with bugs..) but I wish they would hurry and make these available.
Vista is a joke. XP is much faster, more stable, and works fine for me. MS really screwed up on this one.
Period. If you decide to become a software engineer because you love it and are good at it, then you're going to do just fine.
Outsourcing is a trend like all others (network computer, paperless office, on demand software, etc.) that never fully replace the status quo, they simply augment it. Meaning, outsource is here to stay, but businesses in the US will always have need for quality software engineers.
The need for good software and bright minds that can solve complex problems is ALWAYS going to outweigh the supply.
Please tell me what these 2 people are missing now that they've reverted back to XP (actually, installed XP retail on these laptops as they were shipped with Vista)? I have to admit that I'm not a Vista expert, but I'm not aware of anything we are missing out on by continuing to use XP.
Incidentally, our builds which used to take these developers 5 minutes to perform on Vista are taking a little over 2 on XP now. Photoshop no longer crashes. They are running at WAY under 500MB RAM allocated, and their laptops are much faster.
Please, from a business standpoint, identify why I should continue to endure this crap, shell out money for ridiculous amounts of RAM, and handicap a brand new Santa Rosa Intel Dual Core machine to the point it performs like a P4?
It is a "waste of time" because the glaringly-obvious better solution is Windows XP for Windows users.
We bought at our company. It was just ridiculous the number of times programs crashed (photoshop cs3), how slowly development environments ran (Java, Eclipse), and how terrible disk I/O was.
Remember, this was supposed to be an UPGRADE. Honestly, it is just terrible. Vista on a laptop is simply awful. These were brand new HP laptops with 2GB of RAM.
Vista offers nothing. It is an utter waste of time to attempt an upgrade at this time. With Vista and IE7, the shine is definitely off of MS. There is nothing in the MS product roadmap that is even remotely interesting to me at this point.
MS competitors have never had a better time to take advantage of MS market position than they do now. The hole is wide open.
Submitters should more accurately reflect the content of their stories rather than creating a misleading teaser that doesn't represent the core issue being debated here.
I was a Comcast customer (AT&T@Home prior to that) for about 8 years. I live in Utah and recently switched to one of the municipal networks (based on the Utopia project and I won't name the exact ISP because I don't want to be accused of being a company whore), and I've never looked back.
Now, I only get data from them. I'm not interested in TV or phone, but as far as data pipe, I'm saving $20/mo and the connection speeds are faster.
I've had my iPhone now for 2 weeks. And, I can tell you it is the hardest to use iPod ever invented. Having to unlock and then figure out how to advance a track while driving or just sitting with it is a nightmare.
Apple does MANY stupid things along these line (right clicking their crappy "wonder mouse" is an exercise in finger agility..you have to lift your left finger).
Apple does a lot of things very well, but the campaign against buttons is crap from a usability perspective.
I think someone at the CIO level understands that the basic premise of this discussion is that standardized tools and processes can help increase the likelihood of project success. How? By communicating information like cost overruns and projected schedules early enough in the project timeline so that corrective action can be made. Data like this can help managers understand when a project is failing before it becomes apparent to everyone already working on it (by that time it is usually far too late).
Any good software development process (Scrum, Agile, etc.) is based on similar principles. However, tools and process templates are often helpful in order to formalize these best practices regardless of the size of the company.
I don't think anyone is going to rush out to any of these vendors/consultants immediately after reading this article. I think *most* people get the idea that these "experts" are merely representative of an industry trend at large. Is it advertising? Perhaps this may raise some visibility to the providers mentioned in the article, but there is no talk of specifics and/or why these specific tools/teachings are superior to alternatives. I'm pretty sure CIO magazine gets no benefit by quoting from 3 people that work for companies that 99% of its readers have never heard of.
Obviously, I don't know you, but I would be very surprised to learn whether you were functioning in a management role based on your cynicism about these kinds of tools. This isn't about some bullshit tool that pointy-haired managers deploy to help him/her to manage a development team regardless of whether they have any technical skills. This is about scaling your business to effectively track where you are at on your work.
Good tools make good practices more efficient. I'm surprised that you're not using ANY tools for tracking work. This sounds like chaos.
I only responded to your post because I see this attitude all the time with developers. And, granted, there are a ton of crappy tools out there that simply CREATE MORE WORK rather than help eveyone get on the same page (think M$ Project, for example). But I've seen development teams work much more effectively together by using project management/issue tracking software than they did without.
You have written off the article because they quote from 1 vendor and 2 consultants. How would you have written it? Who would you use? A CIO that would "endorse" the solution he/she chose to bring in house? Regardless of the approach, as soon as you mention ANY specific tool or PM practice, it becomes an "advertisement".
I don't think that was the point of the article. While I agree that for software development things like Agile, XP, and better languages and tools have allowed for greater project success, I do think tools can be useful.
You don't use a bug/issue tracking system? How do you prioritize what you should be working on? Does the company you work for have several things going on at the same time? Do you do specific work for individual customers, and if so, how is this communicated?
I don't think "shiny/proprietary software" is the sole cause for greater project success. But, the article is dead on in explaining how tools like this can help.
From your post I can only assume that: 1) You have only ever worked for bad technical managers, 2) The company you work for is small and doesn't have enough information/customers to see any benefit to having a system help you track this, or 3) You are a typical embittered software developer with a god complex who thinks the only real contribution made to your company comes from your developement team.
I manage a team of developers that produces a web-based business application written in Java. Because we deliver on any platform I purposely arrange developers on a mix of OS platforms (Windows XP, Vista, OS X, Linux). All of our builds run off of Ant, so we don't dictate a specific IDE.
A new developer I hired recently was most comfortable with Windows, but also had Linux experience. I asked if was willing to develop on Vista, and he was excited at the opportunity to get a new laptop and the "latest and greatest" from MS.
He tried using it for 4 weeks and performance was terrible (this was an HP laptop with a dual core Intel CPU and 2GB of ram). Builds that would take under 1 min on a similarly equipped XP or OS X machine would take 7-8mins!
To make a long story short, he has installed Linux over it and it now very happy.
Vista is the biggest turd MS has released since Windows ME. Personally, I'm quite happy with XP and have no desire to move to Linux or OS X. But, there is no way I'm moving to Vista any time soon. MS really screwed up. There is not 1 single feature I need in Vista, it requies 1GB of ram just to load the OS, file I/O is ridiculous, and I don't want to deal with the new security model. What were they thinking?
These kinds of questions are ridiculous!:) Please. It's like closing the patent office because "everything has already been invented". Or, "no one will ever need more than 640KB or RAM". Or, "now with electronic forms, the need for paper will probably go away".
Has all the good software already been written? Is the need for better software gone? While these questions are great for starting a discussion thread, the answer is obvious. Are we going to be using computers less? Is software already as intuitive as it can be?
Why does the Slashdot crowd care if games are assigned ratings? People always say that parents should be the ones to monitor their children not the government, or the games company, etc. But, parents need tools to be able to make these decisions.
No, it won't be perfect. But, it will be accurate enough to allow people to make a purchasing decision.
This isn't a censorship issue. To me, there is nothing wrong with assigning a rating to content so that you can make an informed purchase.
But, service based applications will soar. As a web developer, I'm thrilled by the prospect of being able to run my web application on 16 and 32 core machines. I could care less about whether office apps run any more quickly.
OK. As the information about the iPhone has started to come in after the announcement, I am decidedly off the bandwagon at this point.
This is stupid. Why do people put up with Apple and these games? If MSFT or Sony pulled this crap, the entire Slashdot universe would reign fury on these companies. But Apple? I'll read 1000 posts about "wait and see" and about how Steve Jobs is protecting us from ourselves.
Apple needs to get over it and open this up. At $600, if you can't even get the geeks excited, this product has 0 chance of succeeding.
I'm a Windows user, but I think Apple laptops are great. However, I would never buy one until:
1-It ships with a 2-button mouse. When is Steve Jobs going to give up this obsession with a 1-button mouse. And, I don't care about "gestures". I want 2 mouse buttons.
2-WUXGA. If I'm going to lug a 17" laptop, I want WUXGA. I'm typing this from my Sony A690, and I'd never go back to anything less.
I agree...damn democracy...if only Bush were a dictator, the US would be able to defend itself properly!
In fact, this is really all Clinton's fault for being soft on them in the first place...
If the Dems would stop critisizing Bush, Iraq wouldn't be in this mess...really, we should kill all the Dems first, then go after the Iranians, then the North Koreans.
Actually, I think we can all agree that the answer to the NK problem, really, is more tax cuts! Tax cuts and getting rid of queers. If you're not with me, you're against me.
Slashdot Mirror
I ask in all seriousness. We are about to yank our website written in RoR and port it to php for performance reasons.
1) The smaller monsters were a genius twist and were VERY creepy. It changed the whole feel of the monster movie from what I was expecting. As soon as I saw the CNN footage in the electronics store of the smaller creatures falling off the bigger one and attacking the soldiers, the whole movie changed for me...it became much more creepy. During the subway tunnel scene I looked away from the screen and everyone in the audience was bunched up in their seat.
2) Hud, the camera guy, kept the movie fun with his commentary. Good balance of action and humor. BWP had no humor element. Cloverfield kept the right balance here.
3) Explanations aren't important in these kinds of movies. Why Manhattan? Why couldn't the bombs kill it? Where was it from? Why did her head explode after being bitten?...Who the hell cares? Working in answers to these kinds of questions in the plot of a monster film is soooo cliche. It was shot from the perspective of civilians caught up in the event. If I were directing this, I may have added a epilogue or press release at the end of the film, but I wouldn't have incorporated these answers into the film.
4) The reality-based/civilian perspective on the monster movie is what makes this movie fresh. That is the novelty of this movie. To my knowledge, this hasn't been done before. The camera work, admittedly, was hard to watch (I wish they would've stabilized it more), but I think this form of narrative is extremely powerful.
If I were ranking the best monster movies of all time (a genre that, granted, is not made up of great films), I would put Cloverfield in the top 10.
I wasn't aware there was a similar "moral panic" (not sure why a health concern is a "moral" issue...) when artificial insemination was introduced. Reference?
I have to agree. The non-tactile keyboard is a pain to type on. I would love a hybrid capability, like a slide out keyboard if you wanted to use it.
Folks that are good at car safety would be trivially easy to hire out of one of the old, tired Big 3 auto makers.
The problem with the Detroit manufacturers is bad management and bad culture. I'd be that sharp engineers would jump at the opportunity to work at an auto company that managed innovation like they do in the valley.
Vista is a joke. XP is much faster, more stable, and works fine for me. MS really screwed up on this one.
Outsourcing is a trend like all others (network computer, paperless office, on demand software, etc.) that never fully replace the status quo, they simply augment it. Meaning, outsource is here to stay, but businesses in the US will always have need for quality software engineers.
The need for good software and bright minds that can solve complex problems is ALWAYS going to outweigh the supply.
still waiting for what the Vista "upgrade" gives me...
Incidentally, our builds which used to take these developers 5 minutes to perform on Vista are taking a little over 2 on XP now. Photoshop no longer crashes. They are running at WAY under 500MB RAM allocated, and their laptops are much faster.
Please, from a business standpoint, identify why I should continue to endure this crap, shell out money for ridiculous amounts of RAM, and handicap a brand new Santa Rosa Intel Dual Core machine to the point it performs like a P4?
It is a "waste of time" because the glaringly-obvious better solution is Windows XP for Windows users.
Remember, this was supposed to be an UPGRADE. Honestly, it is just terrible. Vista on a laptop is simply awful. These were brand new HP laptops with 2GB of RAM.
Vista offers nothing. It is an utter waste of time to attempt an upgrade at this time. With Vista and IE7, the shine is definitely off of MS. There is nothing in the MS product roadmap that is even remotely interesting to me at this point.
MS competitors have never had a better time to take advantage of MS market position than they do now. The hole is wide open.
Submitters should more accurately reflect the content of their stories rather than creating a misleading teaser that doesn't represent the core issue being debated here.
Now, I only get data from them. I'm not interested in TV or phone, but as far as data pipe, I'm saving $20/mo and the connection speeds are faster.
I've had my iPhone now for 2 weeks. And, I can tell you it is the hardest to use iPod ever invented. Having to unlock and then figure out how to advance a track while driving or just sitting with it is a nightmare.
Apple does MANY stupid things along these line (right clicking their crappy "wonder mouse" is an exercise in finger agility..you have to lift your left finger).
Apple does a lot of things very well, but the campaign against buttons is crap from a usability perspective.
I think someone at the CIO level understands that the basic premise of this discussion is that standardized tools and processes can help increase the likelihood of project success. How? By communicating information like cost overruns and projected schedules early enough in the project timeline so that corrective action can be made. Data like this can help managers understand when a project is failing before it becomes apparent to everyone already working on it (by that time it is usually far too late).
Any good software development process (Scrum, Agile, etc.) is based on similar principles. However, tools and process templates are often helpful in order to formalize these best practices regardless of the size of the company.
I don't think anyone is going to rush out to any of these vendors/consultants immediately after reading this article. I think *most* people get the idea that these "experts" are merely representative of an industry trend at large. Is it advertising? Perhaps this may raise some visibility to the providers mentioned in the article, but there is no talk of specifics and/or why these specific tools/teachings are superior to alternatives. I'm pretty sure CIO magazine gets no benefit by quoting from 3 people that work for companies that 99% of its readers have never heard of.
Obviously, I don't know you, but I would be very surprised to learn whether you were functioning in a management role based on your cynicism about these kinds of tools. This isn't about some bullshit tool that pointy-haired managers deploy to help him/her to manage a development team regardless of whether they have any technical skills. This is about scaling your business to effectively track where you are at on your work.
Good tools make good practices more efficient. I'm surprised that you're not using ANY tools for tracking work. This sounds like chaos.
I only responded to your post because I see this attitude all the time with developers. And, granted, there are a ton of crappy tools out there that simply CREATE MORE WORK rather than help eveyone get on the same page (think M$ Project, for example). But I've seen development teams work much more effectively together by using project management/issue tracking software than they did without.
You have written off the article because they quote from 1 vendor and 2 consultants. How would you have written it? Who would you use? A CIO that would "endorse" the solution he/she chose to bring in house? Regardless of the approach, as soon as you mention ANY specific tool or PM practice, it becomes an "advertisement".
I don't think that was the point of the article. While I agree that for software development things like Agile, XP, and better languages and tools have allowed for greater project success, I do think tools can be useful.
You don't use a bug/issue tracking system? How do you prioritize what you should be working on? Does the company you work for have several things going on at the same time? Do you do specific work for individual customers, and if so, how is this communicated?
I don't think "shiny/proprietary software" is the sole cause for greater project success. But, the article is dead on in explaining how tools like this can help.
From your post I can only assume that: 1) You have only ever worked for bad technical managers, 2) The company you work for is small and doesn't have enough information/customers to see any benefit to having a system help you track this, or 3) You are a typical embittered software developer with a god complex who thinks the only real contribution made to your company comes from your developement team.
B#m?...um do you mean Cm? :)
I manage a team of developers that produces a web-based business application written in Java. Because we deliver on any platform I purposely arrange developers on a mix of OS platforms (Windows XP, Vista, OS X, Linux). All of our builds run off of Ant, so we don't dictate a specific IDE.
A new developer I hired recently was most comfortable with Windows, but also had Linux experience. I asked if was willing to develop on Vista, and he was excited at the opportunity to get a new laptop and the "latest and greatest" from MS.
He tried using it for 4 weeks and performance was terrible (this was an HP laptop with a dual core Intel CPU and 2GB of ram). Builds that would take under 1 min on a similarly equipped XP or OS X machine would take 7-8mins!
To make a long story short, he has installed Linux over it and it now very happy.
Vista is the biggest turd MS has released since Windows ME. Personally, I'm quite happy with XP and have no desire to move to Linux or OS X. But, there is no way I'm moving to Vista any time soon. MS really screwed up. There is not 1 single feature I need in Vista, it requies 1GB of ram just to load the OS, file I/O is ridiculous, and I don't want to deal with the new security model. What were they thinking?
I bought a RAZR replacement battery 3 months ago off of eBay for $5 and it works great.
Your example sucks.
Has all the good software already been written? Is the need for better software gone? While these questions are great for starting a discussion thread, the answer is obvious. Are we going to be using computers less? Is software already as intuitive as it can be?
Why does the Slashdot crowd care if games are assigned ratings? People always say that parents should be the ones to monitor their children not the government, or the games company, etc. But, parents need tools to be able to make these decisions.
No, it won't be perfect. But, it will be accurate enough to allow people to make a purchasing decision.
This isn't a censorship issue. To me, there is nothing wrong with assigning a rating to content so that you can make an informed purchase.
But, service based applications will soar. As a web developer, I'm thrilled by the prospect of being able to run my web application on 16 and 32 core machines. I could care less about whether office apps run any more quickly.
I'd buy one if it were only a new iPod with wireless internet capability.
OK. As the information about the iPhone has started to come in after the announcement, I am decidedly off the bandwagon at this point.
This is stupid. Why do people put up with Apple and these games? If MSFT or Sony pulled this crap, the entire Slashdot universe would reign fury on these companies. But Apple? I'll read 1000 posts about "wait and see" and about how Steve Jobs is protecting us from ourselves.
Apple needs to get over it and open this up. At $600, if you can't even get the geeks excited, this product has 0 chance of succeeding.
I'm a Windows user, but I think Apple laptops are great. However, I would never buy one until:
1-It ships with a 2-button mouse. When is Steve Jobs going to give up this obsession with a 1-button mouse. And, I don't care about "gestures". I want 2 mouse buttons.
2-WUXGA. If I'm going to lug a 17" laptop, I want WUXGA. I'm typing this from my Sony A690, and I'd never go back to anything less.
I agree...damn democracy...if only Bush were a dictator, the US would be able to defend itself properly!
In fact, this is really all Clinton's fault for being soft on them in the first place...
If the Dems would stop critisizing Bush, Iraq wouldn't be in this mess...really, we should kill all the Dems first, then go after the Iranians, then the North Koreans.
Actually, I think we can all agree that the answer to the NK problem, really, is more tax cuts! Tax cuts and getting rid of queers. If you're not with me, you're against me.